Matt nodded. “No argument there. Anyway, she made her mistake with you, Lara. She didn’t want your body showing up right away. She wanted your remains tossed when the time was right and...”
He paused for a minute, then said quietly, “...and sufficiently decayed to make identification difficult at first. But she was afraid of Meg, too, since Meg—Lara’s best friend—was an FBI agent. Somehow she figured that she could get rid of her that night in Gettysburg—and that we’d all believe Meg had thrown her career to the winds to go and look for her friend.”
“But who arranged for Walker’s company to buy the property by the mill? That was obviously all part of the plan,” Meg said.
“Joe did—after Kendra said they should have it. Kendra arranged to rent the MacAndrew farmstead for the day of the speech. She chose the room assignments. Meg, do you remember that your window was right by a trellis that ran along the wall from the back porch? Well, he just climbed down it with you over his shoulder. While he was doing that, Kendra was outside, ever so sweetly checking with the security men there and making sure they were watching the road for traffic—or for anyone trying to sneak in. No one was looking for anyone to sneak out. Brighton got you outside, walked down the field to a little ATV he’d purchased and dumped you at the mill. I suspect,” he continued, “that Kendra told Slash he could kill you both after Gettysburg. The speech would be over. There was no danger of the public not adoring Ian Walker, and all would be fine.”
“Do you know why Kendra ordered one of the dead girls’ tongues to show up at her house—and then in Ellery Manheim’s desk?” Meg asked. “And at his house?”
“I think so,” Matt replied. He offered them a grim smile. “Manheim really was innocent. Kendra wanted him out of the house. He might get too close to the truth. Fortunately, she didn’t think of everything. Unfortunately, neither did we. If we’d gone through all the footage of who was where when, we would’ve known that Slash wasn’t at the Walker house on the night of the murders. We were looking for Manheim. But even if we’d gone through them all, Walker’s three closest aides have their own residences, too, so they could’ve claimed they spent the night at their homes, where there weren’t security cameras. Lucky for Ellery Manheim, he was in the Walker house on the nights that mattered.”
Lara looked over at Meg and smiled. “My dear friend, you are the best. I love you so much. I kept believing that you’d find me. And you did.”
“To be honest, at first I thought you were dead. Matt was the one who felt certain you were still alive. And he read your journal and decided that we needed to follow it. Even if Walker hadn’t been speaking in Gettysburg, it was going to be our next stop.”
“I guess you didn’t plan on finding me the way that you did,” Lara said drily.
“No. And...I guess I didn’t actually find you. But we would have. I just don’t know if we would have found you in time, otherwise. And so...”
“So...” Lara said. Something in her voice told Meg that she didn’t want to dwell on this anymore. Lara suddenly smiled. “So there I was in a black pit—while you were getting it on with the government hottie!” she teased. Then she frowned. “I don’t understand. What did Joe get out of all this, doing everything Kendra said?”
“First, she got him by telling him that she knew what he really was—and what he was doing. And then, by allowing him to vent his craziness and even giving it a direction.” Meg shook her head. “You should have seen her that night. My God, she was proud of herself.”
“Scary as hell!” Lara said with a shudder. “I can’t believe I’m alive.”
Meg grinned, not even flushing. “Hey, the government hottie helped me find you.”
“Hey, I’m sitting right here,” Matt said. He grinned back at Meg. “I like being a hottie.”
Meg groaned. “Don’t let all this go to your head...” she pleaded.
Her voice trailed off as Killer began to bark. There was a knock at the door, and Matt rose to answer it. Nancy Cooper had arrived.
Matt opened the door, welcoming Nancy in; there were hugs all around, but none so tight as the one she gave her niece.
Then there was a lot of laughter and joy as they sat down to the roast dinner Matt had insisted he could prepare, which was excellent.
But it was an early night; Lara still tired quickly and she and Nancy needed to get to her place.
When it was time to leave, Lara hugged Meg fiercely and then Matt.
Meg stood with him in the doorway to watch them leave. Killer escorted them down the walk.
Matt started to return to the house, and Meg called the dog.
But the little guy stayed at the end of the walk. And Meg saw Genie Gonzales appear, then slowly stoop down to pet him.
Genie noticed Meg watching her. She lifted a hand, and Meg realized she was saying goodbye.
“Thank you,” Genie said, gesturing at Killer.
“No, thank you,” Meg said.